Finland, travel, food, sailing and everything in between

Into the Sunset

One evening hubby and I went sailing with the idea of taking pictures of the newbie restaurant/sauna in Helsinki, Löyly. I had been there via land but this time I wanted to see how it looked from the sea. We were lucky as the sunset was beautiful that evening.

When setting off, it was still quite light, as it was around 8 pm. As you may know, Finland is the land of the midnight sun and we enoy light summer nights.

These huge cruise ships can sometimes be tricky for sailors. They apporach quickly and the wake they leave behind can catch boaters unawares.

It took us quite a long time to reach our destination as we were playing with the sails. First, we had a look at Hernesaaren ranta – a huge venue with restaurants, bars, even a stage for performances and a sauna you can rent for private functions.

Even though it was late evening at this point, the weather was gorgeous. Quite rare for May in Finland. You can see that everyone was excited to be out.

Hernesaaren ranta can even be visited with your own boat as they have a dock for that purpose. We went there one evening (via land) and saw the boats lined up side to side with people partying on them. If you’re particular about your boat, I would recommend you only attempt to dock before the wild partying starts.

Ooh, here it is in the picture below – Löyly! Löyly has food, drinks, saunas. That huge pipe has nothing to do with the venue mind you.

If you were wondering, löyly means the steam and intensity which radiates from the sauna stove’s rocks after you have thrown water on them. In Finland this throwing of water is an essential part of the sauna experience. I’ve noticed that in hotel saunas around the world throwing water is usually not possible, as no water is provided for this use. For us Finns this means that something substantial is missing.

There’s a beautiful view from the top but it’s also nice to look at from the sea.

After parading in front of Löyly to get these photos, it was time to start our journey back towards Espoo.

As the wind had died, we had to use the motor. And boy was it slow…

I was enviously looking at the motorboats overtaking us.

Oh well, at least I had time to admire the sun setting.

These last photos were taken closer to midnight.

Here’s a video of Löyly for you to enjoy. I will be writing a post on the Hernesaari area soon, so stay tuned!

Have you had a chance to visit Löyly yet? Where have you seen the most spectacular sunsets?

It does seem that you have to book a slot in advance! It’s for the mixed sauna and you have to wear a swimming suit!!!?? But if you have your own group then you can book a private sauna. I need to try this even though the swimming suit thing is a bit weird… xx

I’m not a sauna person or a group person, but the structure itself looks interesting. Reminds me of the Sydney harbour for some reason. So I think I just need to see it to really believe it’s in Helsinki! 🙂 Happy this city’s growing

I love your sunset photos! Have you had a chance to bath in the saunas at Löyly? How was it? We are planning to do that during the upcoming weekends and were wondering if the sauna experience is any good over there.

Suvi! What an amazing sunset! The people on those restaurants sure looked like they were enjoying themselves.
I have to admit, though, that the sun setting at midnight kind of freaks me out, but that’s ok.
To answer your question, the most amazing sunset I’ve ever seen was in Cape Town. SA. 🙂

Ooh a Cape Town sunset sounds amazing 💕 Hehe, well at this time the sun doesn’t set at all in Lapland. That, I can tell you from experience, is even freakier 😂 I really had trouble sleeping as you can imagine. Even here in the South I keep thinking it’s still early and then I notice it’s 11 pm 🙄

Oh my, I never imagine Rome like that 🙂 My friend was just in Italy for two weeks (Toscana) and she said the weather was unpredictable too. But I agree with you, too hot is awful. I remember being in the South of France with my family once and it was so hot that it took a lot of effort to even walk to the beach!